They are well educated, conservative, make good salaries and generally vote Republican. It could be Orange County, Calif., except it lacks Disneyland.

It is Davis County, Utah.The Deseret News recently commissioned Dan Jones & Associates to poll residents of Davis County about their feelings on a wide variety of issues, from schools and golf courses to gangs and domestic violence.

At the same time, the pollster asked the 400 respondents a few questions about themselves to learn who they are in addition to what they think. The results were not too surprising, but they are interesting.

Over the next few weeks, the Deseret News will review the poll results in a series of articles showing what Davis residents think about schools and busing, taxes, the feared closing of Hill Air Force Base and whether Photocop should be zapping more speeders.

Despite new subdivisions cropping up in cow pastures like dandelions, almost three-quarters of the residents (71 percent) have lived in the county more than 10 years. Sixteen percent of residents surveyed have lived there six to 10 years and only 3 percent moved in during the past two years.

In age groupings, the spread is pretty even. Forty percent are 50 years old or older; 37 percent are between 35 and 49; and 23 percent said they are between 18 and 34 years old.

And, they are conservative.

Asked to classify themselves on a sliding scale of very liberal to very conservative, almost half - 43 percent - declared they are somewhat conservative while another 21 percent professed to being very conservative. That gives conservatism (64 percent) a big edge over moderates (20 percent) and liberals (10 percent said somewhat liberal and a minuscule 2 percent say they are very liberal).

That conservatism converts into votes for Republicans.

Just under half those polled (49 percent) said they are Republicans, followed by 32 percent who say they are independent voters. Only 12 percent said they are Democrats.

And, they are well-educated and make good salaries.

A third are college graduates while even more - 39 percent - have some college or technical school training.

More than one-third - 43 percent - report a family income of more than $40,000 annually and another 21 percent say their annual income is between $31,000 and $40,000. Only 4 percent say they make less than $15,000 annually.

The religion scorecard tallied 74 percent for the LDS Church, followed by 8 percent Protestant and 6 percent Catholic.

*****

Additional Information

Davis County Profile

Profile of 400 respondents to Davis County poll conducted by Dan Jones Associates

Male 51% Female 49%

Ages:

18-34: 23% 35-49: 37% over 50: 40%

Education level completed:

Less than high school: 2%

High school graduate: 26%

Some college/technical school: 39%

College graduate: 33%

Refuse to answer: 1%

Political Affiliation:

Republican: 49%

Democrat: 12%

Independent voter 32%

Other/Refuse: 8%

In politics, do you consider yourself to be a liberatl or a conservative?

Very conservative 21%

Somewhat conservative 43%

Moderate 20%

Somewhat liberal 10%

Very liberal 2%

Don't know/Refuse 5%

Religious affiliation:

Catholic 6%

Protestant 8%

LDS 74%

Other 4%

None/refuse 8%

Annual family income:

Less than $15,000 4%

$15,000-20,000 8%

$21,000-30,000 17%

$31,000-40,000 21%

over $40,000 43%

refuse to answer 7%

How long have you lived in Davis County?

Less than 2 years 3%

2-5 years 9%

6-10 years 16%

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Over ten years 71%

Don't know 1%

Poll conducted Dec. 5-10, 1994. Margin of error +/- 5% on interviews of 400 Davis County residents. Conducted by Dan Jones & Associates.

Copyright 1994 Deseret News

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